Combined cigar box cover and humidifier



Nov. 25, 1952 J. A. RITSCHEL COMBINED CIGAR BOX COVER AND HUMIDIFIER Filed Oct. 21, 1949 FIG. .1.

INVENT OR m m 0 n A Patented Nov. 25, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT oi-"rlcef' COMBINED CIGAR BOX COVER AND HUIHIDIFIER John A. Ritschel, Peoria, 111.

Application October 21, 1949, Serial No. 122,660 1 Claim. (01. 312-31) This invention relates to a combined cigar box cover and humidifier, and more particularly to a cover-and-humidifier assembly which can be mounted directly onto a conventional cigar box to display the contents of the box and maintain the interior of the box properly humidifled.

It is among the objects of the invention to provide an improved cigar box cover and humidifier which can be easily mounted on a conventional cigar box and provides a transparent cover for displaying the contents of the box while maintaining the interior of the box closed for proper humidiflcation, in which the cover can be raised to provide access to the box without moving or disturbing the water reservoir portion of the humidifier, which maintains the interior of the cigar box properly humidified when the cover is closed, and which is economical to manufacture, is neat and attractive in appearance, and is operative for long periods of time without refilling.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the following description and the appended claim in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a combined cigar box cover and humidifier, illustrative of the invention; Figure 2 is a front elevation of the cover and humidifier illustrated in Figure 1, parts being broken away and shown in section to better illustrate the construction thereof;

Figure 3 is an end elevation of the cover and humidifier showing the manner in which the combined device is operatively mounted on a cigar box; and

Figure 4 is a cross-section of a fragmentary portion of the device taken substantially on the line 44 of Figure 1.

With continued reference to the drawing, the assembly comprises, in general, a cover H] for pivotal mounting at one edge to the rear wall of the cigar box, and a water tank or reservoir H adapted to be mounted on the front wall of a cigar box and suspended at the outer side of such front wall.

The cover I is an inverted pan-shaped generally rectangular body having a shape and size substantially the same as that of the top end of a conventional cigar box and comprises a thin top wall l2 having on its end edges and on its front edge a continuous, depending flange 13 which is provided on its lower edge with a laterally outwardly projecting thickened ledge i=4 adapted to 2 rest upon the top edges of the end walls of cigar box and on the top surface of the water reservoir ll.

At its front end, the cover In is provided with an extension having diagonal corner-s, as indicated at I 5, which extension projects for wardly of the cigar box and overlies the top surface of a water tank ll suspended at the outer side of the front wall of a box on which the cover I0 is mounted.

Two hinge brackets l6 and I1 are plvotally attached to the cover 10 at its opposite ends and near the rear edge of the cover by suitable means, such as thepivot pins [8- and 19. It will be noted that the ledge M of the cover terminates somewhat short of the rear edge of the cover to provide recesses in which apertured lug portions 20 of the brackets are accommodated.

Each of the brackets l6 and H has adjacent the lug 20, a bifurcated member 2| which re ceives the upper edge portion of the rear wall of a cigar box when the cover is operatively mounted on the box. This bifurcated member comprises two arms disposed at opposite sides of a rectangular notch in which the rear wall of the box is received, and this portion of the bracket has a very small thickness in the direction of the length of the rear edge of the cover, so that the bifurcated portions of the two brackets can be partially disposed within the cigar box between the end walls of the box and the contents of the latter without disturbing the contents.

Each of the brackets 16 and I! has at the side ofits apertured lug 20 opposite the bifurcated portion 2| an upstanding clip 22 of U-shapecl cross-section adapted to receive the adjacent edge of the cigar box cover and hold the cover in generally upright position inclined slightly upwardly and rearwardly, as is illustrated in Figure 3.

When the cover In is closed, its rear edge contacts the cigar box cover near the rear or bottom edge of the latter to provide a substantially airtight seal between the cover It] and the upstanding cover of the cigar box, while the footings M provide a substantially air-tight seal between the upper edges of the end walls of the cigar box and the top of the water reservoir suspended at the front of the box, thus tightly closing the interior of the box when the cover I0 is down.

A perforated tube 23 is disposed 'at the under side of the top wall ll! of the cover. and extends forwardly and rearwardly of this top wall substantially at the mid-length location of the cover. This tube terminates short of the front edge of the cover by a distance slightly greater than the thickness of the water reservoir H, as is clearly illustrated in Figure 4, and an absorbent wick 24 extends through the tube 23 and projects forwardly of the front end of the tube to a location just within the front portion of the flange l3 of the cover.

The water reservoir or tank II comprises a rectangular tank 25 of elongated, rectangular, cross-sectional shape which tank is materially shorter than the length of the cover I0, and two extensions 26 and 21 projecting outwardly from the respectively-opposite ends of the tank 25. The extensions 26 and 21 have upwardly and outwardly-inclined lower sides and have, at their upper ends, a shape corresponding to the shape of the inclined or diagonal corner portions I of the cover, so that, when the cover is lowered, its outer front edge will be substantially flush with the outer edge of the top end of the water reservoir.

Flat hooks 28 and 29 are secured to the inner sides of the extensions 26 and 21, respectively, and are directed away from the extensions to hook over the top edge of the front wall of a cigar box on which the water. reservoir is mounted to support the tank or reservoir with its top end substantially flush with the upper edge of the front wall of the cigar box.

The tank and the two. extensions 26 and 21 have a continuous top wall 30, and this wall is provided at the mid-length location of the tank 25 with a hollow, cylindrical boss 31 which projects a slight amount above the top wall and projects a greater amount below the top wall and inwardly of the tank 25. An absorbent wick 32 extends through the boss 3| and has its lower end within the tank spread in opposite directions along the inner side of the bottom wall 33 of the tank, to absorb water from within the tank and carry the water upwardly through the boss 31. At its upper end the wick 32 terminates slightly above the top or outer end of the boss 3| and in position such that, when the cover I0 is closed, the forward end portion of the wick 24 rests upon the upper end' of the wick 32, so that water will be transferred from the wick 32 to the wick 24 and will evaporate from the wick 24 through the perforations in the tube 23 in which the wick 24 is received.

L-shaped clips 34 and 35 are disposed at respectively-opposite sides of wick 32 at the upper end of boss 3!. Each clip is provided with a flange 36 which overlies the top end of the boss and with inwardly-directed detents 31 which engage the wick and hold it against being forced downwardly through the boss into the tank.

At a location spaced from the boss 3|, the top wall 30 of the tank is provided with an internal boss 38 through which a tank-filling opening is provided, and this opening is normally closed by a suitable closure member, such as the cork 39.

A cover It! is preferably formed of a suitable, transparent sheet material, such as a synthetic resin plastic, and the reservoir I l is also preferably formed of the same or a similar material, and it is desirable that the reservoir should also be transparent so that the amount of water therein can be easily determined by inspection. The entire tank or reservoir may, however, be formed of opaque or translucent material and may be colored, if desired, and the marginal portions of the cover may also be rendered translucent or opaque and may be colored to enhance the appearance of the device.

When the cover in is closed the interior of the cigar box on which it is mounted is substantially sealed, and is adequately humidified by water passing through the wicks 32 and 24 and evaporating from the wick 24 into thev interior of the box. At the same time, the transparent cover renders the contents of the box readily visible for display purposes. The tank II is made flat, so that it projects only a small distance beyond the front wall of the box and has a width substantially equal to the width of the front wall of the box and a length sufficient to provide adequate water capacity, so that it will have to be refilled only at long intervals of time. The tube 23 is preferably of fiat, rectangular, cross-sectional shape, so that it will receive a wick of adequate capacity and at the same time, be: entirely contained within the flanged cover.

The invention may be embodied in. other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. Thepresent embodiment is, therefore, to beconsideredin all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the. foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and. range of equivalency of the claim are, therefore, intended to be embraced. therein.

What is claimed is:

In a combined cover and humidifier for acigar box, aclosed water tank, means for mounting the tank on the outer side of the front wall of the box, said tank having a top wall closing the upper end of the tank, a vertical tube traversing said top wall at a point intermediate the ends of said top wall, said tube having an. upper portion rising above the top Wall and a lower portion depending into the interior of the. tank below the top wall, afirst wick extending through said vertical tube, said wick being exposed within the tank. and above the upper. end of. the vertical tube, a cover proportioned to rest uponthe upper edges of the walls. of the box in closing relation to the open top of the box,.a perforated tube extending from front to rear of the cover and secured to the underside of the cover intermediate the ends of the cover in alignment with the vertical tank tube,. a second wick extending through said perforated tube and exposedat the front end. of. theperforated tube for contact with said first. wick at the. upper end of said vertical tube, and means for removably hinging the rear edge of the cover on the upper edge of the rear wall of the box.

JOHN A. RITSCHEL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS v Date. 

